Edward didn`t want to risk entering the forest yet after what had happened after he had displayed his aura. The presence had been overwhelming, even more than what he had felt from the Regal wolf back in the Vipin Forest. He wanted to give some time for things to settle down. That`s why he had set his sight on the mountains instead.

　　On the next day, early in the morning, Edward left on a hike to climb the mountains. He had been there for roughly two weeks now, and he had restrained his exploration to the forest. It was time to change that. It would be silly not to delve into the mountains while he was right at their figurative doorstep.

　　Edward took his time climbing the stone scree near the entrance of the ruins, careful not to trip on an insecure stone, even though now with his increase perception, it was a lot easier for him. If he had a doubt a simple check from his aura told him if the stones were loose or not.

　　From time to time, Edward even cheated a little and teleported to avoid a particularly treacherous area. He was glad that his physical capacity had improved compared to back on Earth, he was already quite fit before, but climbing a mountain with a lot of positive drops was supposed to be exhausting. However, now that he was on his path to becoming superhuman, at least compared to a normal man on Earth, he was climbing the mountain without getting excessively tired.

　　Whatever you say about this world, getting stronger is a nice boon.

　　Edward looked behind him, he had already climbed around one kilometer of positive elevation.

　　Phew, that`s a nice climb, and the view is worth it. And yet I still can`t see the end of the forest even though I`m a lot higher now. If I follow the direction from where I entered the forest, I should have entered around this spot. I can see that the forest is less dense a little further away. That should be where I found that stupid beetle and the beginning of the marsh area. If I go further from this, the marsh is ending and the forest is back, and then&Wait, what is this? The forest is turning white. Are those&webs?

　　No way!! Are you telling me that there are spiders than can cover whole trees in webs? No, no, no. I`m blacklisting this spot. I won`t ever go there. One huge beetle is already enough, I don`t want to encounter huge, meter-wide spiders.

　　If I get stuck in a web, what would happen? Would the web still stick to me if I teleported away? I`m keeping my clothes between teleportations, so that is a disturbing possibility. I don`t know how my power decides what to teleport or not. If a simple contact with me is enough to get teleported with me, I would still be in the web after my teleportation.

　　Edward shuddered.

　　Nope, I don`t even want to think about it. Let`s just ignore this spot and continue with the climb.

　　Edward turned back toward the mountain, attempting to forget this gruesome realization. By now, he was almost outside of the scree, and he was arriving on a short grass slope. He spotted several burrows here and there in the grass.

　　Burrows? Yes! There are no spiders here, only cute critters. Climbing the mountain was the right choice. I hope I can see marmots.

　　Edward approached one of the burrows quietly while canceling his aura, he leaned over it to see what was inside. From his spot of view, he wasn`t able to see anything, the burrow was too dark, so instead, he released his aura perception attempting to sense what was inside.

　　Since he broke through as an Awaken, he could now sense things up to fifty meters if there were no obstacles. It was the first time that Edward was trying to release his aura perception inside of the ground. Before he had only probed just a thin layer a few centimeters deep with his aura but now he was trying to reach several meters deep.

　　He realized that he couldn`t sense things as far as the usual, this much soil was obscuring his senses, and he could only sense things until five meters deep into the ground. However, this distance was enough to sense the small mammal residing inside its burrow, it was taking a nap at this moment.

　　Aww so cute. It is way better than spiders and beetles. I`m not able to determine what it is exactly, but I can sense its cuteness from there. It looks similar to a Quokka.

　　Edward smiled fondly.

　　Ok, I will let it sleep. I don`t see any of them outside right now. I don`t think I made enough noise for them to notice me, so they are probably nocturnal rather than hiding. To think that I would have missed them if I had stuck only to the forest. That would have been sad.

　　I should continue to climb. I will come back either when the night is falling or when I start to feel cold.

　　Edward continued his ascension, not encountering any of the mammals, which were all still resting inside their burrows.This narrative has been purloined without the author`s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

　　After some time, the slope turned less slanted and Edward reached a plateau. He stopped, seized by the sight of a majestic pristine lake in the middle of the plateau. Its water was so clear that Edward was able to see the bottom of the lake itself. Its sky-blue water was glittering under the light of the sun.

　　Wow, this is so beautiful. It is not a view you can see every day.

　　Edward walked closer to it. He could see some small fishes swimming lazily inside the lake.

　　I wonder how those fishes even came here in the first place.

　　While watching the lake, he noticed that one river was taking off from the lake to hurtle down the mountain slope.

　　This must be the river from which I took my drinking water from.

　　As the sun was already high in the sky, and since it was such a nice place, Edward decided to take his lunch break over here. That would give him more time to appreciate the view.

　　While eating, he was observing the landscape. Behind the lake, the mountain was continuing to rise with a vertical rocky outcrop.

　　Well, I won`t be able to go that way. I`ll have to circumvent it.

　　He noticed that one part of the outcrop was darker than the rest, but he couldn`t see clearly as he was still too far away.

　　Is that a cavern? Or is it just that the rock is darker? I`ll have to see it from up close to check.

　　He finished his lunch before walking alongside the shore of the lake to reach the outcrop.

　　This is indeed the entry of a cavern.

　　He stopped at the entrance.

　　I don`t have a torch or any flashlight with me but I can still check the entrance quickly without going too far in. I can rely on my aura perception as well. It is not the same thing as my eyesight but at least I won`t be stumbling around like a blind man.

　　He activated his aura perception.

　　I`m able to sense things but perceiving everything in shades of greys is not fun, it`s like I`m in a horror movie or something. It gives a new meaning to fifty shades of grey.

　　Edward walked for just a few meters when he stopped.

　　Something is wrong. I can feel&death in here.

　　With his aura perception, Edward was able to sense small clouds of a dark aura lingering near the ground in the cavern.

　　This is not good. I should go back. I don`t know if this aura is being sent as a warning, or if it is the remnants of living beings getting killed, but it is bad in both cases. I am out of here.

　　Edward quickly left the cavern and walked a good distance away from it. He shuddered while looking back at it.

　　This landscape feels just like paradise, and this cavern, seemingly innocuous, is reeking of death.

　　It actually makes me remember the flowers` trees inside the forest. Death hid among the calm and the beauty. Next time I go into the forest I should check if I can sense the same death aura from them. The only time I went near them I wasn`t able to feel auras yet.

　　Edward walked away from the cavern to pursue his ascension, he mentally noted the grotto as a place to avoid and maybe to come back and explore one day when he would be stronger. However, he didn`t want to bite more than he could chew right now.

　　As he was walking upward, the slope was getting steeper, at one point Edward ended in front of a vertical rock wall.

　　Time to do some climbing. This rock wall is only four or five meters tall. I don`t have any protection with me, but it should be okay even if I fall, it is not that high, besides, my body should be tougher now too. After all, I`m already an Awaken, I took my first step toward becoming a superhuman. And if the climbing is not working I can still teleport, five meters is well within my range. I could teleport right from the start but this would be no fun. How long has it been since I last climb something?

　　Edward went near the wall and tried to find a foothold that could bear his full weight. He wasn`t used to climbing, the only limited experience he had with it was some indoor climbing at school. He at least remembered that you were supposed to climb with your feet and not with your arms. One`s legs were a lot stronger than arms, if you try to climb with your arms, you would get tired very quickly.

　　Finding footholds on a natural wall wasn`t easy for him. In indoor climbing, at least at school, the holds were very prominent and gave you a good handle. Here, in the wild, the holds were a lot smoother.

　　I would have preferred to have better holds, but those will do, I guess.

　　Edward began his climb, posing one foot after the other on the wall and searching for the next foot and handholds. It wasn`t as hard as he feared and he quickly reached the top, although he felt as if he sometimes brute-forced his way up the wall rather than using proper technique.

　　Phew, admire the thing you can do Edward. Now even a rock wall is not enough to stop you. It is not the kind of thing I would have dared to do alone in the wild before without any equipment. Once you feel more confident, you realize that a lot of obstacles aren`t that tall and can be overcome. The only thing preventing you from doing it is your own fear.

　　He looked around him, there were patches of snow in several places, and the grass was becoming rare too. Instead, there were a lot more rocky outcrops, with only naked stone without any soil on it. In front of him, the peak of the mountain was still going up, entirely covered in snow. Besides this peak, the mountain range was continuing, with other peaks further away.

　　I guess that`s it. I`m not equipped to go treading into the snow. Actually, I`m surprised that I am not feeling any colder. Sure, it is cold, but my clothes aren`t that thick, and there are patches of eternal snow only a few meters from me. I`m pretty sure I`m supposed to feel colder. Getting stronger is amazing.

　　Actually, all this snow gives me an idea.

　　Edward walked to the nearest patch of snow, and took some snow in his hand, building the start of a snowman. He didn`t have any carrots for the nose, but he used some pebbles for the eyes and the mouth.

　　Done, behold the first snowman to ever grace this mountain!

　　Edward looked at it, it wasn`t a perfect snowman but it was good enough for him.

　　I miss having a camera. This would have been cool. I could have taken a picture to keep as a trophy for climbing the mountain. Whatever, it is still worth it even without any pictures.

　　As he couldn`t really go further away, and since it was already starting to get late, he had to climb down the mountain. Edward turned around and began the descent back to his camp in Shele Nalore.